North Port, Florida: door-to-door solicitor permit

• The answer: No door-to-door solicitation permit. The Code of the City has no peddlers, solicitors or canvassers chapter at all. What the city does require is a Local Business Tax Receipt — the city's own business tax page says any person doing business in the City of North Port must obtain one — and the city fee schedule carries "Solicitor" as its own business tax class. So the rep's paperwork is a business tax receipt, not a solicitation permit.
• Where it comes from: The development services department sells business tax receipts (34-23(a)). The city's Business Tax Registrations page is the counter for it.
• Fee: $50.00 — the business tax listed for "Solicitor" under Merchants and Dealers in Appendix A, the City Fee Schedule. A receipt runs no more than one year and expires September 30; a new receipt is prorated at one-twelfth of the total fee for each month due (34-22(a), 34-23(a), (d)). There is no separate solicitation permit fee because there is no solicitation permit.
• Hours you may knock: Not published. The city code sets no knocking hours for commercial door-to-door sales — there is no peddler or solicitor chapter, and the nuisances chapter (42) and the offenses chapter (46) say nothing about soliciting.
• What the rep carries: Not published. The code names no badge, permit card or photo ID for a door-to-door seller. The business tax receipt is the only document the code attaches to the activity.
• What takes the time: Little, on paper. The code sets no background check, no fingerprinting, no bond and no photographs for a solicitor. The receipt itself needs a current fictitious name registration from the Division of Corporations or a signed statement of why the Fictitious Name Act does not apply (34-20), and a federal employer identification number or Social Security number (34-24). No processing time is published.
• Code: North Port Code of the City Chapter 34, Licenses, Permits and Miscellaneous Business Regulations, Article II, Business Tax Receipts (34-19 to 34-40), with the solicitor business tax in Appendix A, City Fee Schedule. Municode shows the code codified through Ordinance No. 2026-12, adopted April 21, 2026 (Supp. No. 65).
• Worth knowing: Working without a required receipt carries a penalty of 25 percent of the tax determined to be due, on top of any other penalty (34-23(c)). Going 150 days past the notice without paying and without getting the receipt exposes a person to civil action, court costs, attorney fees, collection costs and a penalty of up to $250.00 (34-23(e)). Because nothing in the code sets hours or a badge rule, a no-soliciting sign and Florida trespass law are what a crew actually runs into at the door — ask the clerk and the police department before a blitz.
• Read it yourself: North Port Code of the City Chapter 34 — Licenses, Permits and Miscellaneous Business Regulations · North Port Code of the City Appendix A — City Fee Schedule · City of North Port — Business Tax Registrations · North Port Code of the City, title page · checked 20 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down:

• Is the $50.00 solicitor business tax charged per rep or once per company?
• Does the city enforce any knocking hours for door-to-door sales, and under what authority?
• Does the police department ask door-to-door crews to register or check in before working a neighborhood?

Clerk’s name ______________ Direct line ______________ Date called ______________